Water services in selected Central and Eastern European countries

Abstract

Water services in Central and Eastern European countries have experienced important transformation processes since the 90s. After a first wave of wholesale reforms of the economic systems after the collapse of the Soviet Union (decentralization and private sector involvement), more recent reforms try to address specific water-related challenges which many countries in the region encounter on their way to EU accession. To tackle issues like rising tariffs, low quality and performance, limited access and insufficient infrastructure maintenance, the creation of dedicated regulatory bodies as well as aggregation reforms have been two key reform approaches.